Disney’s Inshin-Den-Shin Touch-Powered Sound Transmitter

Who would have thought that Disney would do far more than just cartoons for the young ones? It seems that the scientists over at Disney has been pretty busy, having worked on a microphone which is capable of transmitting sound via body contact. That sure as heck sounds radical, doesn’t it? Disney’s research division in Pittsburgh has successfully developed what they call the ‘Inshin-Den-Shin’, which uses a voice-activated microphone that is connected to a computer and a thin wire. Whenever one talks into the microphone, it will generate an inaudible signal which will be passed onto someone simply by touching an area near their ear.

This process is made possible by sending the message to the computer’s sound card, where it will then be looped and transmitted back to the microphone at a high-voltage, low-current electric signal. Upon contact with a person’s ear, the microphone will then conduct the signal by sending a small vibration to the recipient’s ear lobe. Just for our general knowledge, ‘Inshin-Den-Shin’ is translated from a Japanese idiom, where it means “unspoken mutual understanding”, and it remains to be seen just how Disney will make use of this new technology.